Saturday, June 13, 2015

MALAYSIA:::Nufam alleges MAS being cowards and avoiding them

PETALING JAYA: The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) has asked that an open debate be held with either Malaysia Airlines (MAS) senior management or the in-house employee union Maseu regarding the retrenchment of the airline’s 6,000 employees as well as issues that led to the airline’s losses over the years.

Saying Nufam was ready for this talk any time, its president Ismail Nasaruddin however felt that MAS was trying to avoid a confrontation with them.

“It seems that they (MAS) are avoiding the questions we pose to them,” he said in a statement today.

“The Transport Minister claimed he told MAS to sit and discuss with us. However, it seemed like his statement was not effective as MAS has cowardly avoided us,” he added.

On Wednesday, Minister Liow Tiong Lai told reporters he had spoken to MAS representatives, asking them to “sit down with Nufam” for discussions over the termination package of retrenched staff and the re-employment of a selected few.

Ismail instead alleged that MAS issued all sorts of statements to the public, creating confusion and diverting attention from the real problems that were affecting employees.

He explained that half of the crew members had been axed, leaving them with no where to find alternative employment.

“They (MAS) claimed they have done the best in their restructuring exercise to cut down 6,000 employees. If that is true then we see no reason for them to not sit and face the officials and elected employee’s union representatives,” he said.

Ismail, who is a former chief steward with MAS, also instructed in-house union Maseu to ‘step aside’ and stop plotting with MAS against Nufam.

“Maseu is calling NUFAM ‘gangsters’. We noticed that they are always there to accept things so freely and even back up the company’s plans as a support,” he said, adding that Masue’s real function as a union was now questionable.